Almost to Instead

“There is pain and heartbreak in every almost”. I read this in a book the other day and boy did it make me think.

And so I reflected on the “almosts” in my own life, and truth be told, most of them turned out for the better.

For instance, I “almost” moved to New Zealand in 2001. If I had, I know for sure I would not be here, writing this message to you today.

Maybe its all about perspective. In place of lamenting the “almost” you find the beauty in the path you DID take.

Turn the pain and heartbreak of the “almost” to the joy and beauty of the “instead”.

I would love to hear about some of your “almost” and “instead” moments.

With gratitude.

Forever Grateful

I really love my job. I know lots of people feel that way but for me there are so many gratifying aspects of real estate.
And testimonials like this are what keep me coming back on the hard days.
If we have worked together in the past just know that I value our relationship and your trust in me. I am forever grateful.
With gratitude.

Improvements with BIG returns

3 small home improvements that yield BIG returns for sellers.

1. Paint the interior of your home a popular but neutral color. Repose Grey by Sherwin Williams or Oyster Pearl by Valspar are great options. Now I can hear you arguing with me - “its just paint, the buyer can choose their own colors and paint it themselves”. Here’s the issue, when the buyer sees the navy blue walls in your kids room they add it to their “to-do list” which means less money for you.

2. Some elements of home staging. A new rug, beautifully framed artwork (this doesn’t have to break the bank), a few strategically placed artificial (or real plants). A couple hundred will make a huge difference if the right pieces are purchased. The thrift store and a can of spray paint can go a long way too. For inspiration check out Pinterest.

3. Deep clean and declutter. This is probably the most important aspect. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Have a trusted friend over to help you “see” your everyday clutter.

What gets your fire going?

Do you have a wood stove? We do and we primarily heat our home with it in the winter.

One of my least favorite things about the wood stove is when its almost out and I have to coax it back to life or even clean it and start a new fire.

However, I have learned a little trick. When the fire is nearly out I can get it going again with some new logs and just a little paper.

With one balled up piece of newspaper, something to catch the flame I am able to remind the fire who she is.

It doesn’t take much, just one little spark of fire to get it going again.

That one piece of paper is immediately consumed and the fire remembers - my job is to burn. Lately I have found there are certain activities I can do too that remind me who I am.

Whether it be exercise, meditation, reading or connecting with a loved one, I can trigger a part of my brain that gets me back into gear.

How about you? I would love to hear what gets your fire going again.

With gratitude.

You're not going to end up homeless

“But if I sell my home now I will be homeless!”

I’m hearing this sentiment a lot these days. Everyone knows the market is unpredictable and many sellers are putting off selling because they worry about finding a replacement property.

But what if I told you I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve to ease the transition and stress involved with selling and buying in this uncertain market?

1. Seller Contingency - Once your home goes under contract you have a specific time period to find another home. If you can’t find another house to buy you can get out of your contract.

2. Rent Back - After closing you can rent the home back from the buyers. This is typically calculated to cover their new monthly mortgage payment and can last up to 60 days.

3. Extra Long Closing - Contracts are taking longer than normal anyway because we are experiencing an appraisal backlog but it’s not uncommon for parties to agree to a 90 day extended closing.

All three of these strategies give some much need and valuable time to find your next home so you don’t end up homeless.

Have questions Leave them in the comments.

Honesty is encouraging

You’ve all seen it—those painfully bad American Idol auditions.

They're cringe-worthy at best. I find myself squirming in my seat. It’s perplexing, oddly fascinating… and honestly, a little heartbreaking.

The worst part?

When the contestant walks off stage, crushed, only to be met by their family saying, “Oh sweetie, those judges don’t know anything. You’re the best singer in the world!”

This is the part that drives me insane.

Why lie to these poor people?

They’re terrible singers. They never should’ve auditioned.

I get it—telling someone the cold, hard truth can be really hard.

You don’t want to hurt feelings, crush dreams, or seem insensitive.

But sometimes? The truth is the kindest, most important thing they need to hear.

A few years ago, I met a lovely family who needed to sell their home and move out of state.

The winters were getting hard. Health issues were piling up. Selling wasn’t optional—it was essential.

I met them at their home and knew right away: this was going to be a tough one.

There was clutter everywhere—inside and out. The house was dirty, dark, and falling apart.

After a quick tour, we sat down.

They told me they needed to be out by September—just three months away.

Money was tight. Resources were limited.

And then they looked at me, hopeful, and asked: “What’s next?”

This was my moment for the cold, hard truth.

Early in my career, I probably would’ve tried to sugarcoat it: “It’s not that bad… buyers can look past your stuff.”

But now I know better.

People don’t hire me to protect their feelings.

They hire me to give them my honest, professional advice—because they’re counting on it.

So I told them the truth:

That no one would buy their home in its current condition. That, given their tight timeline, we needed to price it below market value to attract immediate interest.

Then I helped.

I connected them with contractors, offered suggestions for clearing out the clutter, and gave them a clear, realistic action plan.

And I delivered all of this with sincerity—because I do care how my words land.

At the end of our meeting, they thanked me for my encouraging words.

Encouraging?!

That surprised me at first… until I realized:

Honesty is encouraging—when it comes with a clear plan and a compassionate heart.

Sometimes the truth hurts.

But if you really care about someone, you owe them the truth—and nothing less.

With gratitude.

Insurance Policies

Don’t get caught!

Did you know that some home owners insurance policies only cover damages to your home within 30 days of you moving out?

I found this out the hard way.

We had moved out of our house and I was checking on it every other day, BUT on the one day I wasn’t there the dishwasher decided to go kaput!

What ensued was the basement filling up with water and doing tons of damage.

I called my insurance company to make a claim and received the bad news; all repairs would be out of pocket!

Sucker punch to the gut!

So what can you do?.

If you move out of your primary residence make sure you check with your insurance company to find out what will be covered.

In most cases you can get “vacant home” insurance which is more money than a standard policy but much, much cheaper than dealing with a flooded basement.

Please, please, please learn from my mistake and don’t make the same one yourself.

BTW - second homes have different insurance policies that typically fall under different guidelines.

Please reach out if you have questions.

Agent on sign

“I just called the agent on the sign.”

I hear this all the time.

Buyers that end up with the agent on the sign because they didn’t know they had a choice.

Here’s the deal.

You should interview and hire an agent to help you buy your home just as a seller interviews and hires an agent to help them sell their home.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with the “agent on the sign”. I just believe you owe it to yourself to make a CHOICE about the matter versus someone you ended up with by CHANCE.

With gratitude.

My Gazillion-dollar House

But Zillow says my house is worth a gazillion dollars!

Okay, I’m exaggerating, kind of.

Zillow uses sales data to come up with your “Zestimate” but what they can’t factor in are things like the view, traffic noise, intimate community knowledge, changes in the local work force like a company leaving town or coming to town.

In other words the “Zestimate” is a 50,000 foot view of your homes value.

Having your local agent help you price your home is like looking under a microscope at the value of your home.

Don’t leave these things to chance. Now is not the time to be inaccurate about pricing. Correct pricing is going to dictate whether your home sits on the market or gets multiple-over asking offers.

Home Inspections

What?

LENDER REQUIRED REPAIRS

These 3 words are NOT what you want to hear when you are buying or selling a home.

So what does this mean you might ask?

Lender required repairs are repairs that must be completed in order for the buyer to get approval for their loan.

It doesn’t matter if the buyer (or seller) care about or want these repairs, they are imposed by the lender.

Common lender required repairs are; peeling paint, broken windows, missing hand rails or anything that falls under health and safety.

As a homeowner what can you do to avoid this situation?

Ask your agent for a do-it-yourself checklist for home inspection preparation. While this is for preparing for a home inspection, it will cover most anything that a lender would be concerned about as well.

You Rock!

Here’s just a few reasons being a homeowner rocks!

1. Monthly mortgage payments stays steady even as rents rise and inflation increases.

2. Decorate and update without having to ask your landlord.

3. Possible tax benefits

4. Building equity instead of giving it away to someone else

5. Being able to borrow against the equity in your home for other things such as debt reduction and home improvement projects.

Must Read

You’re going to need your super readers for this one!

When I meet with sellers they often tell me about some of the repairs they never got around to… can you relate?

They suggest offering a credit to the buyer at closing to address these items. While that might work for things like flooring, its a weak place to work from regarding negotiations.

Think about it - you’ve already told the buyer to offer you less. And in my experience if a repair costs you $1000, the buyer will want $1500 to deal with the hassle.

Each situation is specific, and when we meet together I will give you the best advice possible to get your home ready to go on the market.

Don't Do Real Estate Alone

Okay no more horsin’ around.

If you are in the market to buy a home and you haven’t met with a lender you are doing this all wrong.

Agents won’t show you homes and sellers won’t take you seriously.

Remember, you don’t have to do this alone.

Get a lender recommendation from a real estate agent you trust and make your first step towards homeownership.

Finding Something To Be Grateful For

If you could just get your hands on it.

The thing that eludes you.

The thing, that if you had it, everything would be better.

The thing you are missing in life.

So you grasp and cling just like this giant claw crane game.

You set it all up perfectly, push the button and pray. And as predicted the claw half-heartedly grabs at the object of your desire and lets go at the last minute.

You knew the odds, but you played anyway.

Have you ever won at this game?

I have, twice in a row believe it or not!

And I can tell you the toys are not nearly as cuddly as they look. Once in your arms they lack the quality you had hoped.

They were just shiny objects behind the glass.

So back to the beginning of this post.

That thing you want so badly, is it all it’s cracked up to be?

Or is it like the stuffed flamingo at the arcade- hollow, fake and won by chance.

Focus on the things on this side of the glass. I think you might find there is just so much to be grateful for.

With gratitude.

DO NOT SMOKE

The other day I showed a house that was occupied by smokers.

I am not here to harp or preach but I want to share the straight facts with you.

If you choose to smoke that’s on you but please understand that if you decide to smoke IN your home you have probably slashed your home value by upwards of 30%.

Bad odors are one of the biggest turn offs for buyers and one that they CANNOT get past. Do yourself a favor (quit smoking) and smoke outside!

A Note At The Airport

My daughter found this note in the airport.

It was just an unassuming little wad of paper, but being 12 and curious, she decided to pick it up.

And inside someone, I don’t know who, poured out a little of their heart.

Who is this person, the recipient?

Who is the other person, the author?

We won’t ever know.

But judging by the amount of times it seems to have been folded and unfolded, I do think the recipient is probably sad to have lost it.

Or maybe not, maybe this note had been carried around for months in a pocket or wallet and was purposely tossed out as a result of a shattered heart. Tears shed while waiting for a plane

I love the possibilities of this note. The stories it weaves. The heart that beat a little faster when these 30 words were read, over and over again. Memorized and inscribed.

And the part I love most is that someone, because of another, felt hope again. I pray that you have someone in your life that brings you hope too.

With gratitude.

Buyer Credits

First time buyer credits are a thing of the past. Sadly, your lender doesn’t care if you are a first time buyer or buying your 10th home.

But its not all bad news!

If you are a teacher or first responder there are some special loan programs available to you.

Also if you a Veteran of the US Military, you likely qualify for a VA loan.

And many buyers qualify for down payment assistance and down payment grants.

A great lender will be able to figure out what programs are best for you. Please for the love of all that is good in the world, DO NOT, call one of the lenders with the fancy commercials.

You know who I am talking about. They work on volume not on repeat business. They spend millions of dollars on advertising to sell you one loan.

A local lender, recommended by your real estate agent, cares about your experience because they hope you might recommend your friends and neighbors down the road.

Is your home's value too low or just right?

Let’s do something fun.

I want you to look up your Zestimate.

This is Zillow’s estimate of the value of your home. Just go to the website and type in your address.

Let me know what you think of the value. Too high, too low or just right?

I made a huge mistake

It was my worst day in real estate.

I had made a huge mistake.

This was back in the days of Blackberry phones. I had forwarded (or thought I had forwarded) an exclusion list to some buyers via email.

Well long story short, they never got it and the first time they had a look at the list of things that were not (and supposed to be) included with their new home was at the closing table.

How do you spell disaster?

What transpired next was me renting a small UHaul in a blizzard and driving 6+ hours to retrieve the massive amount missing items.

As I was commiserating with the man at UHaul about my epic mistake he said the following...

“A person will be judged not on the mistakes they make, but on the actions they do to correct the mistake”.

Little did this stranger know but he gave me a spark of hope and reprieve. A verbal life raft in a sea of self loathing.

We are all human, we make mistakes, it comes with the territory. But how you handle and respond to your mistakes reveals ones character.

That day I didn’t blame anyone else for what happened and I know I did everything humanly possible to make up for my mistake.

And now, I copy myself on every email to make double sure.

Being A Local Real Estate Agent

Being a “local” has become a somewhat territorial statement.

“I’m a local so I know better, have priority or get to complain about all the non-locals”.

This is kinda BS in my opinion, after all we are all “locals” of planet earth At least I think so

But there is a situation where being a local is super important.

Your real estate agent.

I often have clients ask me to help them buy or sell in other areas such as Denver or Grand Junction. And while my real estate license is good for the entire state of Colorado, I don’t feel I am providing the best service possible by helping buyers and sellers in areas I don’t know.

If you are not a local you might not know about the large employer that’s about to relocate, or the proposed airport expansion or areas notorious for bad water or shifting soils.

It is so flattering that my clients want to “take me with them” to their new area. And while I cannot be their boots on the ground agent, I’m more than happy to interview agents in other areas and find a great fit - a local who knows their community and can look out for your best interests.

My network of excellent agents is literally worldwide! So if you need any agent in another area, please let me know. It would be my pleasure to assist you.